“I owe my success to the fact that I never had a clock in my workroom. Seventy-five of us worked 20 hours every day and only slept four hours--and thrived on it."
- Thomas Edison
After the fun-filled and well carved out induction week of Mahindra GMC summer internship program, it was finally time to head to our respective sectors. Getting assigned the famous Automotive and Farm sector (AFS) of Mahindra & Mahindra, comes with an exciting challenge of performing the best in this sector owing to the intense competitive market.
I moved to the Delhi office since my project was based in the Sales department of AFS sector in Delhi region. My Business HR, Ms. Vani Garg, was very helpful in answering my incessant queries, which de-escalated worries about my first corporate exposure. My project literally involves selling cars, hence pretty exciting and interesting for me to work on!
My Project Manager, RSM of Delhi-NCR region and an extremely busy person, met me and explained me the nitty-gritty of the project, his expectations from the project as well as expectations from an intern. I got thrilled and nervous at the same time when he spoke of implementing my recommendations during my internship itself. Over the next couple of days, I tried to analyze valuable parameters such as dealer-wise sales with respect to variants, ETBR ratios, etc. from the mammoth of sales data. Flexible timings, open discussions and a strong focus on innovation defines the workplace here in Mahindra Towers.
Other than a Project Manager, we were also assigned a Project Buddy, who in my case was the ASM of Delhi/NCR region. “Sky is the limit” is how I can sum up my first interaction with him, as he advised me to look beyond and think out-of-the-box while devising strategies. I was given complete autonomy to drive the project based on my analysis, observations, and insights. Before suggesting anything, it is crucial to soil the shoes and visit dealerships to understand how sales occur at ground level.
Visiting dealerships across Delhi-NCR, not as a customer but as a Mahindra employee was an experience in itself! Selling cars is literally an art in itself. And what better place to learn this than from the company which made the Scorpios and XUVs of the world. Sales consultants were always so eager to share their experiences of building a relationship with the customers as cars are such high-investment products. Visiting competitors’ showrooms as a mystery shopper/customer was pretty fun, to say the least.
I'm writing this article when Week 4 is just about to end and I’ve gathered some very valuable insights and even thought of some strategies. Now it’s time to analyze further and build upon those strategies. Wish me Luck!